Groundswell NZ understands Climate Change Minister James Shaw has finally conceded the He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) agricultural emissions scheme is terminally flawed and will scrap it, Groundswell NZ emissions spokesperson Steve Cranston says.

“Industry leaders, Maori and the Government have been collaborating on HWEN for the past two years but all that time and expense has come to nought.”

“Government and industry leaders have been quietly looking at alternative emission pricing options to the HWEN scheme for the past few months and now appear ready to pull the pin on HWEN.”

“Groundswell NZ is calling on the Minister and the members of the HWEN Partnership to confirm whether HWEN is dead and what alternatives they are now considering.

“The most alarming aspect of this development is the fact Industry leaders have been consistently telling farmers that there were only two options, HWEN or the ETS backstop. It is now clear that they knew all along that other options were in play but continued to threaten farmers with the ETS backstop in an attempt to get HWEN over the line. This brings the credibility of our industry leadership into question.”

“If we can’t even trust our paid representatives to be straight with farmers, who can we trust? New Zealand Agriculture is now in an advocacy crisis.”

“Groundswell NZ encourages the government to take this opportunity to connect with farmers and create workable environmental regulations. The top down, piecemeal approach taken by industry leaders and government has been problematic from day one. A full integrated policy framework that incorporates emissions, indigenous biodiversity, and water quality in one streamlined framework is the only sensible solution”

“All policy must be informed by the latest science and farmers must have genuine input from the start. We can not repeat the same mistakes as He Waka Eke Noa which locked farmers out of the discussion until the proposal was almost complete.”

“We have a great opportunity to create long term environmental policy that farmers could support, the decision now rests with Government as to what direction they take from here.”

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